August 19, 2009

Joyce Beers Community Center

3900 Vermont St., San Diego 92103 Uptown District Shopping Center1.5 blocks north of University Ave

The World According to Monsanto is an in-depth documentary that looks at the
domination of the agricultural industry from one of the world’s most insidious
and powerful companies.

This is one of the most powerful, must-see films for anyone interested in
the behind the scenes world of the food industry, and how just one
world-dominating corporation holds the keys and patents to much of the world's
food supply.

Includes a discussion about the local food movement in San Diego and ways you can help support the return to locally grown, fresh and healthy food in our community.

July 23, 2009

January 29, 2008

Last week I attended the 28th annual Ecological Farming Conference at the beautiful Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove (near Monterey), California. The first year I went to the conference was in 2002, just a few short months after 9/11. I don’t know if it was the fact that I came alone—or that the farm I had been volunteering for and fighting to save had just been sold to developers—or just the general mood of the country that year—but I left that conference feeling completely despondent. The world was going to hell and despite our best efforts as environmentalists, there seemed to be nothing we could do to stop this destructive, downward course.

But this year the mood is completely different. You can feel it. Hope and change is in the air. We are electing a new president this year. “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” and “Fast Food Nation” have awakened a lot of people to the fact that there are changes happening in our environment and that it is imperative (and in our best interests) to get involved and make some changes in the direction we are headed.

The theme of this year’s Eco-Farm Conference was “Root Values: Connecting Ecology, Community, and the Land.” I was here representing San Diego Roots Sustainable Food Project, a group of volunteers that came together 7 years ago to help save a farm that we loved from being sold and converted into a housing development.

San Diego Roots has grown in these past few years from a handful of concerned citizens to a community-wide effort. We have much to celebrate. We helped start and maintain a successful high school garden project at Morse High School and we are now in the process of buying a farm, WIllow Glen Farm, which will eventually serve the entire San Diego community as a working sustainable farm model and educational center.

Representing San Diego at the conference were fellow Roots’ board member & OB People’s Food Coop board member Doug Zilm, as well as David Solomon, Dashiell Kuhr & Erika Shickle from La Milpa Farm in Escondido. We left San Diego on Wednesday morning and made the 7 hour drive up to the Monterey Peninsula through rain and snow (at 4000 feet through the Tejon Pass)!

The first evening of the conference began with a keynote speech on sustainability by author Eric Schlosser. Schlosser didn’t really cover any new ground, but reiterated what he learned in writing his best-selling book Fast Food Nation.

December 17, 2007

"Monday, Dec. 17, 2007 | Used to be that Jim Kemp would run cows along dirt paths from Campo north to Mount Laguna and south to Mexico. But then the roads through the region were paved, so he began using them to move the cows from pasture to pasture.

"Now, I shudder just to drive them across the highway," he says, speaking quietly, his voice carrying a hint of Jack Palance gravel.

At 77 years old, Kemp is a remnant of a once-vibrant breed. Cattle ranchers, dusty denim and spur-wearing cowboys, are fading into San Diego County's history. Between 1997 and 2002, the number of cattle farms in the county dropped 40 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Since 1975, the USDA says the number of cattle dropped from 61,000 to 22,000"

November 18, 2006

When you buy food, books, or toys, do you go to a local merchant or a big box store?

When you buy from a locally-owned business, that money stays in your community and gets recirculated three-and-a-half times more than if you bought from a chain store. That means you are helping your friends, your neighbors, your local farmers stay in business and live in your community.

I like buying locally because I like supporting my local economy, but the best part is that I get to talk to people who care about what they are doing. At the locally-ownedbookstores where I shop, the clerks there actually read the books they are selling and can recommend something they think I will like. When I visit my favorite restaurant, I get a hug from the hostess and the chef comes out to say hi to me and my kids. At the farmers’ market, Barry from La Milpa Organica tells me that he just saw my mom at his stand at an hour ago. While he scoops up a bag of his salad mix (the best in San Diego), he tells me about the corn harvest festival he hosted at his farm last week.

Today, for at least one day, free yourself from the American corporate chains. Better yet, this holiday season, give thanks and support to your local independent businesses by buying from them. (Thanks to Jeff Mariotte for this link.)

November 05, 2006

I came to Italy this year to participate both in Slow Food’s Terra Made and Salone del Gusto. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Salone del Gusto is a international fair held in Torino every 2 years to celebrate the diversity and quality of food, an eco-gastronomic response to the standardization and globalization of our food system.

Well, ok, I have to confess. Mostly I came to eat. And speak Italian. And to travel around Italy for a week with friends afterwards. But it was because of the Salone del Gusto that I came here. I've been wanting to come for years, ever since I first heard about this amazing global food fair.

Salone del Gusto runs for 4 days and attracts tens of thousands of people, including large groups of schoolkids. The event is held in the Lingotto, the former Fiat factory turned convention center. It’s a food lover’s dream come true. Imagine an entire convention center filled with table after table displaying the food of farmers and producers from all over Italy and the rest of the world.

June 29, 2006

As I mentioned in my previous post, Heritage Foods USA co-founder, Patrick Martins, and Head of Business Development, Sarah Obraitis, hit the road on a 40-day, cross-country journey (along with two filmmakers, Anthony Frattolillo and David Kavanaugh) to visit and interview chefs, farmers, and butchers across the country.

On Monday, June 26, the Heritage team stopped in Escondido to deliver a pair of Red Wattle piglets to San Pasqual Academy where they will be raised by resident foster teens. The 20-acre farm, located on the Academy grounds, is headed by farmer and teacher, Scott Murray, president of Slow Food San Diego.

Scott (in center with hat) was on hand Monday to welcome the pigs to their new home, a special enclosure made of chicken wire and reinforced with chain link fence, which will protect the pigs from predators. The pigs will spend 4-6 months in this outdoor pen before being moved to a series of pastures.

October 10, 2005

Yesterday was a perfect reminder of why I live in San Diego. We are blessed with a climate that allows us to grow food year round here. And every year Celebrate the Craft at the Lodge at Torrey Pines brings together the region’s best farmers and chefs to showcase our culinary splendors. What I really love about this event, however, is the way that restaurants and farms are paired together. Next to a farmer with a gorgeous display of fruits and vegetables is a chef handing you a plate of that same produce, deliciously prepared.

It was hard to know where to start. I walked around from table to
table admiring the bounty. The bright sun intensified the
already-colorful fruits and vegetables. The smell of grilled tuna and
duck confit wafted across the lawn. I wanted to eat, but as at the
farmers’ market, I got distracted talking to old friends, asking
questions, and taking photographs.

For me, Region is the
restaurant that best exemplifies what San Diego cuisine is all about.
Here Chef Allyson Colwell prepares plates of grilled bread and Crows
Pass Farm onions waiting to be topped with grilled tuna.

October 03, 2005

Located in the beautiful Capay Valley in Yolo County, California, Full Belly Farm is one of northern California’s most beautiful and successful organic farms. Nestled among rolling hills with a creek running through it, the 100-acre farm was founded 20 years ago by four partners, who still own and operate the farm today.

As if running a farm weren’t enough work, every fall the farmers open their doors to the general public for the Hoes Down Festival. Imagine holding an open house and having thousands of people show up at your door, walk around your yard and trample through your vegetable garden and flowerbeds.

Now in its 18th year, the festival features farm tours, agricultural workshops, live music, a farmers’ market, great food, and a large area devoted to children’s activities. Since Full Belly Farm delivers food all over the Bay Area through its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project, there are plenty of visitors who make the 90 mile drive up from the San Francisco (and even from San Diego!). Thus, the farm offers overnight camping. As you enter the farm you drive into the first orchard on the right, park and set up your tent right next to your car. From what I could see there were over a hundred cars parked around ours.

September 30, 2005

Today I'm heading up to Northern California today to visit my sister and her family. She has been trying to convince me for years to come up for the annual Hoes Down Festival at Full Belly Farm in Yolo County. This year I am finally going!

This is the 18th year of the festival, which features farm tours, hands-on agricultural workshops, entertainment, and of course, food! There's also a kids area with petting zoo, pumpkin carving, hay rides, ice cream making, and a water roller coaster. We'll be there all day Saturday and Sunday, camping out in the orchard overnight. I'll post a full report on Monday.

Lunch ("Picnic on the Arroyo Terrace") takes place from 11:30-3:30 behind the hotel on what is normally the croquet field. It's hardly a picnic, more like an upscale farmer's market with white tablecloth seating.

I found the setting (the croquet lawn with the golf course in the background) a bit incongruous with the idea of sustainable agriculture. But otherwise it's a food lover's dream. Over a dozen chefs from the best restaurants in San Diego participate, including Trey Foshee from George's at the Cove, Amiko Gubbins of Parallel 33, Jeff Jackson from The Lodge at Torrey Pines, Carl Shroeder from Arterra, and Michael Stebner and Allyson Colwell from Region.

The food stations are arranged in the center and along the perimeter of the lawn. As you walk around from table to table, you pick up small plates of food and sample tastes of wine.